Lego Technic - "Studded" Versus "Studless"

"Studded" Versus "Studless"

Although studless beams (studs are the bumps traditionally associated with Lego parts) have been present in Technic sets for many years, the change from primarily studded to primarily studless construction represented a major paradigm shift and has been quite controversial.

The primary advantage of studless construction is the addition of new construction methods that were previously unavailable. The new studless beams are exactly 1 width unit high, in contrast to studded beams, which are a non-integer multiple of one unit. It can be awkward to use studded beams in vertical structures because it is necessary to insert plates between the studded beams in order to get the holes to line up. Studless beams allow greater flexibility when building in multiple dimensions, while remaining compatible with "classic" studded beams. Some builders also believe that models constructed with studless beams look nicer than their studded counterparts.

However, studless construction also introduces disadvantages. Studless construction is not immediately intuitive, requiring the builder to think five or six steps ahead. While studded construction follows the classic bottom-to-top building pattern, studless construction requires building inside-to-outside.

As of 2005, Lego has begun to re-incorporate studded bricks back into the Technic line, which can be seen in sets such as 8421 (found on Peeron), The Mobile Crane.